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CIRCULAR 


Catholic Commissioner 


INDIAN MISSIONS, 


The Catholics of the United States. 



BALTIMORE: 

Printed by John Murphy & Co. 
182 Baltimore Street. 


1814 . 






















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Office of the Catholic Commissioner, 
For Indian Missions, 

Washington, D. C., February, 1874. 

Rt. Rev. and Dear Sir : 

The following letter of the Most Reverend Archbishop of 
Baltimore, is my authority for addressing you in behalf 
of our Catholic Indian Missions: 

^^altimprc Baltimore, January 2 d, 1874. 

To the Honorable the 

Secretary of the Interior, 

Washington, D. C. 

Sir: —The Catholic Bishops of the United States who 
have Indian Missions within the limits of their Dioceses, have 
requested me to appoint a responsible person residing in 
Washington as their representative, near the Department 
having charge of these matters. 

They are not able to leave their Dioceses to come to Wash¬ 
ington to explain the great injustice, which is often done 
towards the missions, (which have been for so many years 
under their care,) on account as they believe, of erroneous 
information sent to the Department, and they feel that it 
would be a great advantage to them and agreeable to the 
Department, if some one fully acquainted with the whole 
matter, should take charge of the interests of the old Catholic 
Missions amongst the Indians. 


Iii accordance with their request, and acting in their name, 
I have appointed Geueral Charles Ewing, of Washington, to 
act as Commissioner on the part of the Catholic Bishops for 
this purpose, as one every way fitted for the position, and I 
am confident personally acceptable to yourself; and as such, 
I respectfully recommend him to your kind attention. 

I have the honor to be, 

Very truly, your ob’t serv’t, 

* J. ROOSEVELT BAYLEY, 

Archbishop of Baltimore. 


As the office of the Catholic Commissioner is charged with 
the protection and furtherance of the temporal and spiritual 
interests of our Catholic Indian Missions, so far as either 
may be affected by the administration of Indian affairs at this 
Capital, I trust that a brief statement of the origin and pur¬ 
poses of the office will be of interest to you, and that it will 
receive at your hands the attention and help that it needs. 
Such an office as the one just organized, if it has not been 
at all times necessary for the most successful prosecution of 
our missionary labors among the Indians, would certainly fo: 
the past fifty years have been to them a most valuable aux 
iliary. But whatever it might have been in the past, there is 
no question but that its existence, since 1870, has been abso¬ 
lutely necessary, not only for the prosperity of our Missions, 
but in fact to save them from utter ruin. And when I re¬ 
mind you that we have, among the Indians, more than forty 
Mission Houses, with over three hundred stations, at which 
full 100,000 Indians are often visited and receive from our 
missionaries religious instruction and the sacraments of the 
Church ; that the Government Agents, at the majority of these 


Agencies are now using all of their power to counteract the 
labors of our Priests in their efforts to convert and control 
the Indians, and at many stations have forbidden and pre¬ 
vented religious instruction and the administration of the 
sacraments; and that this is due chiefly to our want of proper 
organization under the Indian Policy of the Government, 
which was intended to strengthen and make all Missions 
more efficient; you will perceive that the object of this office, 
in the correction of the injuries that have been inflicted on 
our Missions and our Catholic Indians, and their protection 
against the dangers that threaten them, involves the perform¬ 
ance of a great work that is entitled to the Sympathy and 
support of the Catholics of the United States. 

It is strange that this state of affairs should grow out of 
the wise and humane Indian Policy of the President, which 
would, if properly administered by the men to whom its 
development was entrusted, and earnestly and honestly 
seconded by the Christian Churches of the United States, 
bring real and lasting peace and prosperity to the Indians, 
.and give to their Missions more power than any Christian 
^Church has had in modern times in its efforts to evangelize 
"heathen nations. But unfortunately, the policy has not been 
properly developed, and a fair and honest consideration has 
' not been given to the rights of our .Church under it, and we 
are therefore in danger of being forced to abandon four-fifths 
of our Missions by the very policy that should have increased 
their number. This does not appear possible under our Gov¬ 
ernment, but it is nevertheless a fact, that a statement of the 
manner in which our Indians are governed, and the result of 
the enforcement of this new executive rule will make perfectly 
plain. 


6 


Of all the Indian tribes that are found within the territorial 
limits of the United States, there are but two or three incon¬ 
siderable nations that have any form of government of their 
own creation, or who take any part in the administration of 
their tribal affairs. All other tribes have chiefs and head¬ 
men, who sometimes lead their people, but cannot enforce 
obedience to their commands. They are the children of 
nature and take from her open hands what she offers, know¬ 
ing no rights of property in the individual, beyond the most 
common articles and things of life. They have no artificial 
measure of values, or mode of transferring titles and, conse¬ 
quently have no commerce, beyond what is sustained between 
contiguous tribes, by the barter of animals and the products 
of the chase. Practically, the individuals of a nation stand 
upon the same plane, and all have an abundance of food and 
clothing, or are in want of either or both, as the season chances 
to be prolific or barren. They are content if the wants or 
fancies of the day are gratified, and without the power, if they 
have the wish, to provide for more than the rudest necessa¬ 
ries of life, and therefore do not wisely provide from the 
abundance of to-day for the possible deficiencies of to-morrow, 
but depend too much upon the season to supply their wants. 
They are consequently often in want, and disposed to lean 
upon any power that will have a provident care of them. 

Such a people coming in contact with the intelligent and 
shrewd, fearless and sometimes unscrupulous pioneers of our 
advance settlements, feel themselves, and they are in fact 
powerless—even for self-preservation; and surrounded on 
every side by the silent and unseen power that urges forward 
and protects the race that, their tradition tells them, has pushed 
their people, when they were numerous and warlike, back from 
their homes in the East to their reservations on the prairies 


7 


and in the mountains of the far "West, they know that it is 
useless to contend against it, and they therefore lean upon this 
power which alone can protect them. Consequently, the 
General Government can and does exercise almost unlimited 
control over them and their property. 

For the protection of these people and the peace of its 
territories, the United States has been forced to take control 
of the affairs of each tribe; not simply in political matters, as 
it does over citizens in our western territories, but in all things 
in which it is thought possible to improve the condition of 
the Indians. The only participation ever allowed them in 
the management of their public affairs, was in the negotiation 
of Treaties with the United States, but this right has recently 
been taken from them, and their laws are now arbitrarily 
made by the Federal Government and executed by its Agents 
—the Indians having no voice or vote, holding no offices of 
trust or authority. They are regarded as children—wards 
of the United States—who must be governed and directed, so 
far as it is possible, in all matters of life, until they ripen into 
civilized men. Under certain conditions, it provides for them 
food, clothing, medicines and medical care, farming imple¬ 
ments, houses, churches, school houses, schools, Ac., &c. It 
assumes and exercises the right to provide for nearly all their 
wants, and consequently controls their minds and bodies as 
any power can control a people that is so dependent upon it. 

This government of the Indians or the administration of 
Indian affairs, is conducted for the President of the United 
States by the Department of the Interior, through Indian 
Agents or Governors, who reside with the Indians, and em¬ 
ploy doctors, school-teachers, farmers, carpenters and others, 
to assist them in the care and civilization of the Indians; and 
to these Agents or Governors, the Indian must look for the 


8 


protection of his life and property, and for the food, clothing 
and other gifts which he may from time to time receive from 
the United States. Indeed, so absolute is the power of the 
Agent, that the Indian cannot leave his reservation to lay in 
the winter supply of meat for his wife and children, without 
first obtaining a written permit from his Agent. 

If they disregard the commands of their Agent, and cannot 
be induced by the gratuitous offers of clothing, rations and 
other annuities, to reside upon the reservation fixed for them, 
then they are forced into subjection by the military arm of 
the United States; and they know full well how hard that 
arm can strike, for they have felt it often. 

The Indian is not controlled, as I have said, only in such 
matters as we are. He cannot fix his place of habitation and 
follow with full liberty the pursuits of the life he may choose. 
He is forced to live within prescribed limits. His surplus 
wealth of lands is converted into money by this ruling power, 
the income from which it expends in its own discretion for 
his benefit. It determines the kind and quality of food and 
clothing each shall have out of the common fund, and, if it see 
fit, deprives the disobedient and unruly of their share. If he 
is poor and in want, it gives him food and medicine. It is a 
strong, unyielding power that has imposed itself upon him ; 
from whose judgment there is no appeal; that commands 
what it sees fit, and enforces obedience to its command. 

When he possessed the whole country, the Indian could 
find in its varied natural products the means of satisfying all 
of his wants; and his savage nature made it absolutely 
necessary for his life that he should have the free range of 
vast districts of country; and consequently when he comes, 
with his habits, to be confined to narrow limits, he is poor 
and dependent. Except what he may gain by gathering 


9 


wild fruits and grains, or in the poor harvest that he reaps from 
his rude tillage of a few fields, and what he is able to lay up 
from the chase or from the chance increase of his untended 
herds, he must depend for all else upon the government the 
United States has given him. 

Previous to 1870, the Indian Agents, through whom the 
United States exercised its extended power over the Indians, 
expended the proceeds of the Indian’s funds, or distributed 
its large annuities, were for a time appointed from among the 
friends of the existing Administration, to whom these ap¬ 
pointments were the rewards for political work. After a time 
it- was found that through the dishonesty of their Agents, the 
Indians received but a small per cent, of the money or other 
annuities sent out to them, when the civilians were set aside, 
and officers of the army were placed in charge of the agencies, 
and continued to administer the laws and distribute the 
annuities on all of the Indian Reservations until 1870. At 
this time, President Grant being satisfied that money and 
force could not bring the Indian to recognize and obey any 
fixed law or order, determined to call upon the Christian 
Churches of the United States to help him in caring for the 
Indians, by uniting the Christian influence of the Missions 
to the influence of the Government, under what is now 
known as his Indian Peace Policy. 

This policy, as announced by the President, gives to each 
Church the designation of the Agent for those Indians among 
whom it had in 1870, an established ^fission and christian¬ 
ized Indians; and each Agent, in all his work, in the exer¬ 
cise of all his vast powers, is expected and required to work 
in harmony with and for the advancement of the Indian 
Missions of the Church by which he was designated; and if he, 
or any one of his employees shall fail in this, his Church 


10 


lias the authority, and in fact it becomes its duty, to cause 
his removal, and substitute for him a man who will conduct 
the civil affairs of his agency in harmony with the labors of 
the missionaries. 

The Assistant Secretary of the Interior says, that “ the new 
policy contemplates the moral and religious culture of the 
Indians, and it is not enough that agents are willing to 
tolerate missionary work among their people; they should be 
men who can and will render efficient aid themselves in the 
work and cordially acquiesce in all proper missionary appli¬ 
ances ; ” and this action of the churches is called by the 
Assistant Secretary, the “ missionary branch ” of the present 
policy of the Government. And the Board of Indian Com¬ 
missioners in their official report, state that the agents and 
employees should be honest Christian men and women, who 
will make successful missionaries, and who, while pursuing 
their avocations in a faithful manner, will, by precept and 
example, preach Christianity and morality. 

It is also understood, under the policy, says the same 
authority, that when a school is opened, it is for the purpose 
of imparting to the pupils a knowledge of Christianity, as well 
as the ordinary rudiments of education. 

It is, briefly, the intention of the administration to make 
the effort to evangelize and christianize the Indians, and to 
do so through the religious societies of the country, which are 
made a “missionary branch” of the Government for that 
particular purpose. 

In inaugurating this policy, President Grant said that 
he would give “all the agencies to such religious denomi¬ 
nations as had heretofore established missionaries among the 
Indians,” i. e. y to those churches that had been first in the 
field and were actually at work in each Indian tribe, at the 
time he promulgated his policy. 


11 


So understood, the President’s policy is humane, philan¬ 
thropic and Christian, as it intends to protect and help the 
Missions indiscriminately, without interfering with the free¬ 
dom of any of the churches or the liberty of conscience of the 
individual. 

But the policy is not carried out according to its spirit and 
letter. Contrary to the expressed intention of the President, 
the appointment of more than thirty agents which should 
have been given to the Catholic Church, because it was the 
first and only successful missionary among the Indians of 
these agencies, were given to favorite Protestant Churches, by 
whom they are still held despite the protests of the Indians 
and of our Church. Missions that have been for hundreds of 
years Catholic, and Indians to the number of 80,000, who 
profess the Catholic faith, have been given to the charge of 
different denominations of Protestants; and this, in direct 
violation of the unquestioned right of all Christians, who live 
under our constitution, to perfect freedom in the worship of 
Almighty God. 

Many of the Indian tribes have, in the possession of the 
Government, large sums of money, the proceeds of the sale 
of their lands, the interest upon which is, in part, devoted to 
the education of their children; and for other tribes, appro¬ 
priations are yearly made for the same purpose, for, in the 
education of the child, is found the greatest promise of the 
final adoption by the Indians of the pursuits of civilized 
men. As religion, under the present policy, or indeed under 
any conditions, must be the foundation of education, it be¬ 
comes the duty of the Government, in its character of guar¬ 
dian, to see that the schools which it establishes with this trust 
fund are supplied with teachers who will educate the children 
in the faith of their parents. 


12 


But, unfortunately, this plain duty is not fulfilled. The 
honest purpose of the President has been turned aside, and 
our Catholic Indians have had their school funds given for 
the support of schools taught by Protestant teachers, who are 
instructed to teach Indian’s children religious doctrines antago¬ 
nistic to the faith of their parents. The Indians have pro¬ 
tested against this unjust expenditure of their school fund 
and this attempt, through their own schools, to pervert the 
faith of their children. They have declared again and again 
that they were Catholic, and begged for their Priests and 
Catholic teachers. Numbers of such protests and petitions 
have reached the Indian Bureau, but so far only one has 
secured the desired object, and this through the exertions of 
this office. 

This condition of affairs, it is plain, places our Missions in 
great dangers, and threatens irreparable harm to the Catholic 
Indians. The Bishops, in whose dioceses these Indians are 
located, felt it their duty to spare no efforts to rescue them 
from their present condition and protect them against the 
dangers that threaten in the future. But knowing from past 
experience that individual efforts would never produce the 
desired effect, they have agreed to unite, and, trusting in the 
good wishes and the cordial cooperation of the whole Ameri¬ 
can Hierarchy, have appointed a commissioner to be their 
representative at Washington, and there to attend to the in¬ 
terests of their Indian Missions, and of their Indians, in their 
relations with the Government. 

In doing this they have done only what the Government 
expected them to do, and what it had been for some time 
anxious they should do. The nature of the present Indian 
policy requires large and correct information in Indian Mis¬ 
sion matters, to enable the Administration to deal fairly and 

H D 1.2 B 


13 


justly towards all churches; and this information in regard to 
Catholic Indians, before the existence of this office, the autho¬ 
rities were at a loss how or where to get, and, in fact, there 
was no source from which they could get it. 

The Protestant churches of the United States have their 
Boards of Missions, which are their representatives and agents, 
who speak and act in their names, secure unity of action in 
the management of their affairs, and, keeping constantly 
informed as to their means and want 3 , direct their action. 
Whenever the Government wants any information from one 
of them, the Board is prepare to give it. Is there any advan¬ 
tage of any kind offering, the Board is there waiting and 
ready to act. Is the influence of friends needed for any 
object of interest to their Missions, the Board knows where to 
go for it. 

Our Commissioner’s Office has a like object. It is the 
representative and the agent of the whole Catholic Missionary 
Church among the Indians. It will speak and act officially 
in its name and behalf. Keeping itself fully informed as to 
the condition, wants and means of its Missions, it will always 
be prepared to argue and plead for justice in their behalf, and 
give them timely direction. By attention and care it will 
endeavor to lose no opportunity of serving the Indian Mis¬ 
sions, and, by a daily and harmonious communication with 
the reverend clergy and the numerous benevolent societies 
under their direction, it will be enabled to know where to find 
friends and means when they are needed. 

To insure the success of this Office in the work that is be¬ 
fore it, we must have the active sympathy and charitable help 
of the Catholics of the United States. Their Christian aid 
given to defend and secure the religious liberty of the Indian, 
like all charity, will at least be bread cast upon the waters 


14 


and a little reflection will show that it may in fact be the 
defense of our own right to worship Almighty God, and to 
educate our children to know and worship Him, free from all 
control or interference on the part of any secular power; for 
the causq of the troubles that have come upon our Indian 
Missions, is the disregard , the practical denial , of the great 
principle of religious liberty , that Catholics first proclaimed, 
and alone maintained on this continent, until it w T on advo¬ 
cates and finally became a part of our National Constitution. 
It is now first attacked in the administration of Indian affairs, 
and it is certainly our duty to come to the defense of our 
Catholic brethren of the plains, and the maintenance of the 
principles handed down to us by our brethren who are gone. 

I am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

CHARLES EWING, 
Catholic Commissioner 
for Indian Missions. 



































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